R.W.D. Molenbeek, short for Racing White Daring Molenbeek, was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

football club founded in 1909 as White Star Club de Bruxelles. It then became a member of the

Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, ...

later the same year as White Star Athletic Club and received the

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

number 47.

History

White Star A.C. history

The club played several seasons in the first division (1924–25 and from 1934-35 to 1946-47) first as White Star Woluwé A.C. then as Royal White Star A.C. The present White Star Woluwé F.C. took its name from this team, but is not otherwise related.

Racing White history

In 1963 the club merged with Racing de Bruxelles to become Royal Racing White. It played in the first division from 1965 until 1973 after two seasons in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Its homeground was the Stade Fallon in

Woluwe-Saint-Lambert Woluwe-Saint-Lambert () or Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe ( Dutch, ) is one of the nineteen municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It is a prosperous residential area, with a mixture of flats and detached, semi-detached and terraced hou ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

till the club merged with the famous

Daring Club de Bruxelles Royal Daring Club Molenbeek was a football team from the city of Brussels, Belgium until 1973. It was created in 1895 as Daring Club de Bruxelles and was the second club to register to the Belgian Football Association (it thus received the ' ...

in July 1973, becoming R.W.D. Molenbeek. The main reason of that merger was the poor league attendance.

R.W.D. Molenbeek history

The club played in the first division for ten seasons after its inception, winning the Belgian Championship in 1974-75, regularly qualifying for European competitions and even reaching the semi final of the UEFA cup in 1977. Since the club had kept the registration number 47 of R. Racing White it could begin in the first division but it had lost the honours of the Daring Club. The club played in

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated b ...

, Brussels. From 1984, the club encountered many difficulties, leading to bankruptcy in 2002. During the season 2002-2003, K.F.C. Strombeek (located near

) moved to the Edmond Machtens Stadium and became

F.C. Molenbeek Brussels Strombeek Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels F.C., often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels was a Belgian association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek in the Brussels Capital-Region. They last pl ...

the next season. The new club, which used Strombeek's ''matricule'' (registration) №1936, subsequently began in the second division but was promoted to the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 te ...

in 2004. At the same time, a group of fans, who fought to keep the name alive, had also recreated a new team called RWD Molenbeek (with a new registration number) in 2003. The new team started at the very bottom of the Belgian football league system - provincial division 4 in Brabant (level 8), but has been promoted to the Brabant provincial division 1 (level 5 in Belgium) in 2006 after absorbing another team from the Brabant province. In 2015, the ''matricule'' of Standaard Wetteren was sold to a group of investors who started the club

RWDM47 Racing White Daring de Molenbeek 47, also known as RWD Molenbeek and often referred to as RWDM, is a Belgian professional football club founded in 1951 as Standaard Wetteren. In 2015, Wetteren folded and merged with another club, liberating the ...

, trying to reinstate the history of the club.

Honours

: **Winners: 1974-75 * Belgian Second Division: **Winners: 1923-24, 1933–34, 1964–65, 1984–85, 1989–90 * Belgian Second Division Final Round: **Winners: 2001 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: **Runners-up: 1968-69

References

*{{in lang, fr, nl}
Official website
Association football clubs established in 1909 Association football clubs disestablished in 2002 1909 establishments in Belgium 2002 disestablishments in Belgium 20th century in Brussels Defunct football clubs in Brussels Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Belgian First Division A clubs